Health panel favors reform for additional insurance
Uniform supplementary health policy for country’s four health funds would cover surgery, second opinions regarding operations.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHHealth Minister Yael German 370(photo credit: Courtesy Knesset)
A subcommitee of the German Committee to Improve the Public Health System recommended on Wednesday night to create a uniform supplementary health policy for the country’s four health funds that would cover surgery and second opinions regarding operations.The committee said this would be a “separate and independent layer” in supplementary health insurance that individuals could purchase from commercial insurance companies.The coverage would be for a set time determined by representatives of the Health Ministry and the Treasury’s capital market branch. The conditions for joining and purchasing the policy from one’s health fund would not be dependent on a medical examination.Health Minister Yael German, after whom the committee was named, said the “solution is creative and dramatic because it breaks the rules of the game between the health funds and the commercial insurers and sets down uniform rules.”If the recommendations are applied, they will create competitive service and prices and make the system more efficient, cheaper and fair, German said.“This solution cancels the double insurance coverage that exists today, in which individuals receive the same supplementary health insurance benefits from their health fund and from commercial policies, both individual and in a group.Residents will thus be able to make intelligent decisions on whether they want the product and where they prefer to purchase the policies,” the minister said.
Related TagsYael German
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
